Wednesday, August 20, 2008

One part of change in our family is that I am homeschooling two of our children this year. For various reasons, Rob and I chose to keep Harrison (oldest) and Kirk (youngest) at home for me to teach. I have read lots of "homeschool" blogs and honestly, I get irritated/frustrated with the ones that come off as homeschool-is-perfect-and-nothing-ever-goes-wrong-and-we-finish-by-noon-at-the-latest.

Let me tell you: my 7th grader has picked up on this mentality, and we have had some significant conversations on why it isn't practical to expect that he will be done with his work everyday by noon. Moreover, we have had to deal with his feelings of how unfair it is that his brother, who is in kindergarten, does finish by noon everyday!

Some of my friends have asked me, "Isn't it easier to homeschool when you have taught school before?" I think the answer is "NO!" The explanation is simple, really. When I taught at a day school, my class periods were definitive: 45 minutes from bell to bell. There was no phone ringing, no potty help required of me, no FedEx man at the door...you get the idea. In addition to that, I could wax philosophical and assign work. End of story, homework due next day. Homeschooling my own children is a lesson in daily dependence on the Lord. Not that I didn't have to depend on the Lord when I taught for pay, but now my attitude must be "Help me not be frustrated at the interruptions. Let me enjoy this time at home and take advantage of the ond-on-one time with my children."

I happened to run across your blog and read what you wrote about homeschooling. I have started homeschooling my 1st grader this year and it hasn't been all that easy because this is something new for both of us, but we pray before we start and I can definitely tell that God is with us during our 'school time'. I have two younger ones (4 & 2) and of course we have interruptions too, but I have noticed that the two little ones have really started to play together as opposed to the older ones always playing together. I'm rambling, but just wanted to leave a note to say that you are not alone!! I guess we will both be learning this year that God will be with us and equip us to do what we feel like He has called us to do! I hope it works out for you guys!! :)

Hey, Sherri! I found your blog through Facebook and couldn't resist replying to your post.

Just to give you another perspective from a slightly different angle, we've just begun our 22nd year of homeschooling. I still struggle at times with the interruptions that you mentioned, but oftentimes it's the voice in my head that says, "Don't forget to do this, take care of that - and, oh, by the way, you've got such-and-such coming up next weekend" that is worse than anything. You'd think by now, with my youngest, now 13, that I'd have a better grip on things than this. But I think the enemy uses whatever tools he can find to distract and annoy us because it causes us to sometimes veer off the path the Lord has chosen for us.